Descend Into
by HuntedthisNight
Summary: With Lockhart a now permanent resident in St. Mungo's, Albus Dumbledore calls in a favor. A former student of Hogwarts herself, Kagome Higurashi returns as the new Defense against Dark Arts teacher. However, this sprite of a woman is more of a riddle than anyone would believe. With a secret no one ever would have expected. Harry Potter [all verses] x Inuyasha. Rating to Change
1. TSFH CHAPTER 1

-.-

_thoughts_

_*****mental conversations*****_

**_amplified thoughts/meanings_**

* * *

**SETTING: 1995 - Fifth Year Hogwarts **_[students generally 16 years of age]_

_*****I'm searching for answers  
Cause something is not right  
I'm close to the fire_**_*_**

"Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" The voice, the words were accent that gave a fluttering vague hint that at some point southern England had once been home but that accent was soft and only audible as a lisp tang at some of the words and which indicated that the speaker hadn't stepped foot in the United Kingdom for some time, were soft in the gloomy shadows.

It was a voice which tugged at the attention of one Albus Dumbledore, half blooded wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts himself, stilled for a moment where he stood beside the large window. The older wizard, over a hundred years of age though he was still chipper, was garbed in a faded ash gray robe that nearly made him invisible against the smoky gray of the stones that lined the walls of the room itself. Outside the sky was dark and turbulent. In fact it was unusually dark outside given as it wasn't even midday. But it had been raining for nearly the entire month, a hazard of living anywhere within the depths of the United Kingdoms. The lavender stained ashen gray robes that the man wore though made him almost invisible against the gloomy window and the charcoal tinted stones of the castle's warmer interior.

If anyone happened upon the Headmaster of the infamous Magical School of Hogwarts they would have been immediately struck by how **_old_**the wizard happened to look. Wizards and witches happened to age more slowly than their non-magical brethren, as magic could be used to eliminate many of the diseases and illnesses that plagued their "normal" counterparts, however Dumbledore looked every bit his age as he stood by the window. There was a haggardness to his appearance that the man usually did not show to other individuals, and definitely did not reveal to the students that happened to call Hogwarts their home. If it didn't happen to be quite a ways across the room and might reveal a weakness on behalf of the wizard, there was something in his stance which professed Dumbledore would much rather be sitting down.

The older man shifted his hands slightly as if considering something unseen. "I must admit that this is something I did not foresee happening."

Even as he spoke the wizard, already well past his hundreds at 115 years of age, turned so that he was no longer looking out the window towards the dreary weather but rather to the interior of the room itself. A handful of torches, barely even they were enough to cast light into the surroundings, sputtered against the old stone of the wall and did nothing more than fill the room with the scent of wood fire. Sharp and pungent it would have filled the lungs and brought tears to the eyes if left to burn for too long or too heavily but the torches were magically infused and would only burn when someone was in the room and immediately stop when the room was vacant. If one was to look outside they would have seen small puffs of smoke escaping from a chimney that did not exist, an illusion cast by magic in the off chance that some non magically inclined Muggle got that close to the castle.

"This is a dirty trick on your part," a slender hand gestured slightly from the confines of a beige sleeve, the fabric almost long enough to envelope the entire hand itself. "I was quite content where I was, thank you. I was making good money at the Mahō no Bumon No tame ni Za Keisatsuchō."

"Now don't be like that, my dear," a moment's hesitation as Dumbledore raised his hand to quiet the response, "please tell me if you are willing to accept the position or not?"

A shift of weight from the figure that had yet to fully from the staircase that led to the upper level of the room, and so the individual was partially cast within the shadows of the dimly lit room. But then the stranger turned considering the Headmaster with eyes as cutting and as intense as the hunting gaze of some large cat in an unblinking gaze.

"Oh course."

* * *

**NOTES:**

Mahō no Bumon No tame ni Za Keisatsuchō - Magic Department For The National Police Agency [NPA or National Police Agency, the ruling body of Japanese police forces in a round about way].


	2. Chapter 2

_thoughts_

_*****mental conversations*****_

**_amplified thoughts/meanings_**

* * *

"What do you think is going on?" The voice, raised barely above a whisper, tore at Harry Potter's attention and his eyes flickered to the side to consider the blue eyes of his friend, one Ronald Bilius "Ron" Weasley.

"I have no idea." Truthfully he didn't but there was a sort of underlying tension to the air that couldn't be denied.

At first glance, and if one was more interested in conversing with their friends, by all rights and purposes it seemed that there was nothing going on. This was nothing more than a usual gathering at the Great Hall while students awaited the dinner to be served. But even as the thought trickled through the depths of Harry Potter's mind he dismissed it. If the students were acting normally... except for a handful that looked as wary as Harry supposed Ron did if the other's unruly carrot top head happened to be cut shorter and the strands not draping forwards to throw shadows across the other's features... that wasn't the case with the teachers that were beginning to amass at the High Table.

Yes there was a tension there. There was something in the way that Filius Flitwick, the Charms Professor, was not capable of sitting still as he spoke with Rolanda Hooch who was sitting on the little man's right hand side. No it wasn't entirely his imagination but there was blatant exhaustion dancing across the features of Minerva McGonagall, the Head of the Gryffindor, looking more haggard than he ever having remembered seeing the other woman appear. While... and in a way not surprisingly... there was no denying that there was a rather predominant scowl upon the features of Severus Snape, the Head of Slytherin House, was looking around as if looking for someone to unleash a cutting remark upon like usual.

"You don't think it has anything to do with the new Professor do you?" The voice, a surprise when Harry's attention had been solely upon the table, pulled his gaze to the last member of their little group.

"What new professor, Hermione?" Apparently Ron's attention too because it was the red head that asked before the question had even left Harry's lips.

The bushy haired witch paused for a moment, looking at Ron as if the red head had been living under a rock for the entirety of the summer months that they had been away from Hogwarts, before the Muggle-born Hermione Granger graced them both with an answer. "Did you not read the Prophet? There has been an absence of a Defense against Dark Arts teacher since..."

Since Lockhart had been ousted as a fraud there had been a great shuffling of the teachers as a means of seeing to students getting taught their Defense against Dark Arts classes properly however there had never been one professor assigned specifically to fill the role itself. Usually Remus was the main teacher in this role with Snape filling in every month. But by and large there hadn't been someone assigned specifically for Defense against Dark Arts to a degree as there was with other classes... usually there was at least two full time teachers for any class in Hogwarts as otherwise the teacher would get overwhelmed with work.

"That maybe the case however," Harry paused, his voice stilling as Dumbledore who had situated himself beside Minerva stood.

"If I can have your attention please." The Headmaster had to be using some sort of voice amplifying spell for the older wizard's voice had never been that loud before. It had a desired effect as except for some muttering the Great Hall fell silent. It was only when silence remained that the old wizard continued. "As most of you may have heard there has been a glaring absence in the presence of a full time Defense Against Dark Arts professor. I must extend my thanks to Remus Lupin and Severus Snape for filling the role."

Harry's eyes were drawn to both men at the mentioning of their names, Remus sitting two seats down from Minerva and Snape nearly at the end of the table closest to why the Slytherins sat. The cinnamon haired professor was looking a little more entertained at the acknowledgement. He had after all taken the brunt of the work since Lockhart had become a long time patient of St. Mungo's. On the other hand the ill-temped Potions Master looked as if he had swallowed a sour grape or taken a bite out of a lemon. Harry had never thought that the man's scowl could become even more pronounced and vaguely wondered if the dark eyed wizard's features would freeze like that.

But then Dumbledore was continuing. "But after much consideration I regret to state that I had to look outside of our own fine staff members to find a new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher. Miss. Higurashi if you could please come and take the seat here so that the students can see whom it is I am talking about."

There was movement from the other side of the High Table, where Hagrid was sitting and Harry realized that in his fleeting consideration of the staff table he hadn't realized someone was standing beside the half giant. But then compared to the huge man she seemed to be nothing more than a pixie even if she happened to be standing while the hairy half-giant himself happened to be sitting. She had to be 5'4'', maybe 5'6'' if she was fortunate as it was hard to judge height at these distances, and happened to be so slender that it looked as if a strong breeze would be more than capable of knocking the woman from her feet.

A litheness amplified by the fact that unlike the other professors the woman herself was not wearing witch's robes, instead she was dressed very Muggle like in a simple black shirt and light colored nearly off white beige tinted pants that billowed around the ankles. Her features were softer, more delicately rounded than what could be considered traditional amongst Europeans, and there was a slight squint to her eyes as she glanced towards the Headmaster which identified her origins as easily as the thick tangles of hair pulled into a high ponytail. Asian. But there was nothing Asian about the sharp intensity of what appeared to be blue, bright blue, eyes as they swept across the sea of students as the woman ended her conversation with Hagrid and turned to Dumbledore.

"Thank you Headmaster," the voice was accented... she was definitely not from the UK and added an even more exotic sensation than her looks.

Even as she spoke, the woman moved and for a moment Harry could remember once having seen a lion within the confines of a wood and metal cage when his aunt and uncle had taken him to the circus as a younger boy and despite the fact that the woman was much smaller and walked upon two legs rather than four there was something about the loping gait that reminded him of the lion all those years. There was a causal ease about her movements which conveyed both confidence and power packed into one step, stating by simple looks alone that this was **_not_** someone to sneeze at. It was the same sort of way that either Lucius Malfoy or Severus Snape walked; the reference coming from the occasional times when Malfoy visited his son over the weekends and that the other was his professor.

"Well this is going to be interesting."

* * *

**NOTES:**

Gilderoy Lockhart- I know Lockhart was ousted in about 1993-94 and as such used that for this story as the setting is 1995-96 timeframe.

Yes I know Remus overtook in a way Lockhart's position. However, there's quite a few professors that overlook the DADA classes and as such decided to stick her as one of them.


	3. Chapter 3

-.-

_thoughts_

_*****mental conversations*****_

**_amplified thoughts/meanings_**

* * *

**Slight Skip**

_Thank kami that it was a short session, _she had never been one for being stared, or in relation to one person scowled, at and the moment that she had found an exit point amongst her apparent colleagues, saying she was exhausted from the travel, she had taken it. The hallway that she turned down, heading to her rooms, was quiet for now.

"Kagome." The half shouted, half normally spoken voice tore at her concentration. She had wanted to get to her quarters after Dumbledore had introduced her as the new Professor of Defense Against Dark Arts. However, despite this she instinctively turned towards the voice only for without any ceremony she was lifted into a pair of arms and crushed quite securely against a chest wrapped in a checkered tweed sweater.

For a moment Kagome Higurashi, guardian of the accursed Shikon no Tama that hung around her neck clasped within a claw-like pendant that was hidden between the valley of her breasts, tensed at the unexpected sensation. But then the scent of herbal tea, strong with vanilla and cinnamon, and something more woody and wild tickled her nose. She remembered smelling this scent when she had shaken the hands of her fellow Professors within the depths of Hogwarts and a memory of the shy little grin from the man touched her mind. However, that didn't keep her from struggling for a moment to get out of the other's grip. It was a loosing battle for physical strength so she tried another tactic entirely.

"Remus John Lupin release me this minute."

The grip didn't loosen, if anything it tightened until she was finding it somewhat hard to breathe, before with a chuckle that reverberated against her fingertips pressed into her chest the wizard released her. At 6'2'' to her 5'5'' height, Kagome would have stumbled if not for the steadying hand gripping her forearm as her feet finally made contact with the hard stone of the hallway itself. Only once she was settled did Kagome take a step back. Not to retreat but more so that she could get a better look of the man, Scottish born and bred even if his accent wasn't as pronounced as some, that had grabbed her with all the confidence that came with beings friends.

And they had been friends. They _**were** _friends. Remus had kept her well informed of his comings and goings, his own return to Hogwarts years before as a professor himself, years ago. She had relied on him while completing her own task, completing _**that.** _Whoever knew that Time Tuners weren't the only method that one could travel back in time. Though Kagome still found herself wondering if it was due to fate, she would not say gods for her faith in such beings had favored too many times nowadays, that she had ended up in Japan not long after her 14th birthday. Had she been in Scotland all those years ago would she have gone _**there. **_

Azure eyes narrowed as she considered the sandy haired man. Since she had been eleven years old when she had found herself situated in the same train car on the Hogwarts Express as the shy soft-spoken teen in patch together clothes and tangled hair that looked as if it hadn't had anything but fingers for a brush for a very long time. He was still wearing the same piece together clothes, the tweed sweater had definitely seen better days for it was nearly thread bare. The pants he was wearing hung loose on a frame that was rather underweight and Kagome was immediately struck with concern that he wasn't feeding himself properly. When they had been younger he had always been a bit chunky and over the years that had developed into muscle but now he was bordering on underfed.

Plucking at the sweater, Kagome couldn't help but scowl slightly at the cinnamon haired man. Of all her old friends he was one she had stayed the closest with over the years. "You call these clothes?"

A short barked laugh before the man responded. "I swear that the Sorting Hat was wrong putting you in Hufflepuff."

It was an ongoing joke stemming from when they had been much younger. Children. Students at Hogwarts themselves. This happened to stem from the fact that some of the defining features of the Hufflepuff House happened to be hard work, patience, loyalty, and fair play - personality traits that had never been Kagome's strong point when she had been a young hot headed and rather stubborn girl. Kagome wondered just how far into the future the Sorting Hat could see. How much she had sacrificed for her friends, her second family as it was, in the depths of feudal Japan as a means of keeping a stupid little gemstone no bigger than a marble out of the clutches of a very dark evil. She had been unafraid of paying the toil to ensure her friends' safety even if at times it would have cost her her life.

Hufflehuffs were after all as fierce as the honey badger, their House symbol, when push came to shove.

But rather than dwell on that thought Kagome swatted at the man's forearm, lightly as she returned his grin. "And be stuck with you insufferable Gryffindors, I think not."

"We're not all insufferable." Even in the defense of his House the man was grinning.

A tendril of annoyance tickled her mind despite her pleasure at seeing the man. "No you are mostly all hot headed self centered rule breakers..."

"Okay, okay," a hand was held up in a placating manner. "I get the point. Gryffindors are evil bastards."

"No more than Slytherins," Kagome grinned slightly, "only difference is most of you are too thick headed to be sly."

"Kagome."

There was a hint of warning now, Remus had the patience of a saint really and probably why they had gotten along so well as students and young adults, and Kagome changed the subject. "Are you feeding yourself properly?"

A snort of laughter. "Yes Mother."

"Remus." Kagome paused considering him. It hadn't been that long ago, two years maybe, when she had last been here to visit Dumbledore. "I'm not kidding, it doesn't look as if you've eaten a good meal in ages."

"Well," a pause, "maybe that's because I haven't had Miss. Higurashi's delicious cooking in ages."

"My mother never cooked for you," despite herself Kagome could feel her lips quirking, "and my cooking is apparently quite horrid."

"Yeah well that was..." _that was what Sirius said, _the words went unsaid but the way that Remus blanched slightly and slammed his lips together said it for him. Sirius Black, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew as it was Kagome had had the fortune, or misfortune, of knowing all of the Marauders due to her association with Remus Lupin despite how all of the boys had been Gryffindors.

An uncomfortable air saturated the hallway and Kagome huffed softly. She _**knew**_. They all knew. That was one reason why she had decided to stay in Japan when she had completed her task. Her prophecy. Her role in an ancient riddle that was centuries in the making. To was hard to return to a place that was as much home to her as Tokyo when her friends were no more, some dead and some imprisoned and some simply... different. She had left Hogwarts when she had been 14 due to her grandfather's, her mother's father's, failing health as it were. She had only return to Scotland after _**that** _upon her eighteenth birthday to complete her own training at Hogwarts. And then found herself going _**back** _to Japan when tragedy had struck again not more than three years later.

Except for the occasional visit to her father's relatives, this was the first time that Kagome had stepped foot anywhere in the United Kingdom with conscious thought of staying for more than a few months. And yet now she was back, though not necessarily of her own design.

"Come," if she was going to stay at Hogwarts for a while then who better to get information from than Remus, "have a drink with me. Maybe you can enlighten me as to why Snape looked like Dumbledore had just announced the sky had fallen on his head."


	4. Chapter 4

_thoughts_

_*****mental conversations*****_

**_amplified thoughts/meanings_**

* * *

_*****I took a walk around the world  
To ease my troubled mind  
I left my body lying somewhere  
In the sands of time__*****_

"What do they call you over there anyways?" Remus could feel a bit of heat touch his cheeks as an eyebrow rose in question. "In Japan, certainly you can't be called Aurors."

"Vigilum [Police]," the Latin amplified her accent a tad more as the slender woman's fingers pursued a biscuit on the plate resting between them. The kitchen, without the House Elves working to prepare meals, was surprisingly quiet and definitely a good place to talk seeing as she had no office for herself right now and Remus hadn't been comfortable taking her to his seeing as it was a mess. "Is the official title, the word 'dog' is a common thing though."

"...'Dog'?"

"An insult of sorts, very old fashioned and very Muggle. Sort of comical in that way." She said it so causally that Remus paused for a moment to consider her.

This was coming from the same witch who as a fourteen year old had hexed Sirius Black, causing the other's thick black mane to fall out in a single night, when his childhood friend had insulted her for being a little plump. And indeed Kagome Higurashi had been a plump little witch, overweight which had only served in softening her already soft features and making her look much younger than she actually was. Some things hadn't changed in that direction either. Except for the... tiredness... that stared back at Remus through a pair of surprisingly bright blue eyes the woman looked to be five even eight years his junior despite the fact that she happened to be the same age at 35.

But then a lot of things had changed over the years.

The last time he had conversed, really conversed, with the little witch had been close to five years ago. It hadn't been face to face either but through the Floo system for she had been at Hogwarts while Remus himself had been where, the Barrow if he remembered correctly for Christmas because Molly and Arthur Weasley had asked him to come and have some home made food. Owling and letters was something but this had been the first face to face conversation he had had with what was probably his closest **_free_** friend if one didn't count Sirius seeing as Lily and James were dead and the gods only knew where Peter was.

The thought tickled Remus Lupin's mind as green eyes considered the little Asian witch as she went about pouring some more tea from the kettle. A quirked eyebrow was raised in response to his consideration and Remus shrugged slightly at the unspoken question watching as the kettle was settled once again on its tray. He didn't know what he was doing himself. He supposed that he was used to Kagome's presence, had always been since she had more or less fallen into his lap when he had been riding in the Hogwarts Express all those years ago for the first time and the sprite of a girl had lost her balance when trying to get into the train car, was why he was feeling relaxed. And yet he couldn't help but feel a bit... suspicious... for though he knew she visited the UK visited as often as possible.

She had _**never **_stayed before. And Albus Dumbledore had just announced less than three hours ago that she was **_staying_ **to become the new full time Defense Against Dark Arts professor.

"What are you grinning about, Moony?" The lightly accented voice, and the use of his nickname, tore at Remus's concentration. He wasn't going to reveal the ruse not when he had a long time friend in Hogwarts. At last someone his age he could talk to without being on the receiving end of a withering glare.

"Just glad you are here, 'Sharp Tooth'." Like James and Sirius and Peter the little witch was an Animagus, registered for she had gained the ability at the proper time under tutelage unlike the other three. He had been reminded that of the feline grace with which she had moved, mounting the dais surrounding the High Table to join the other teachers.

The Asian blooded, for she was no true blooded Asian with those bright blue eyes of hers, hummed softly before continuing. "You never answered why Severus looked as if he had bitten into something exceptionally sour."

Remus felt his lips quirk at this. Yes the black haired and black eyed wizard had looked as if he had bitten into something exceptionally sour when after some prodding from Dumbledore the Potions Master had quickly shaken Kagome's hand and been the first of the staff to leave the Great Hall after dinner. For a moment he considered what to tell her and what not to tell her. The Potions Master had been after that seat, that position, since that fop Lockhart had been exposed, something Remus had quickly come to understand in how the darker featured wizard had always overruled his own lessons when Snape took over during his monthly issue. And not only had the Potions Master not gotten the seat but it had been given to someone outside of the Hogwarts' professor ranks to boot.

The snappish man would not be pleasant to deal with for a while. And he just couldn't let Kagome take the brunt of that temper without having some clue about why.

"Severus was looking forward to being the new DADA professor."

"Oh," a considering expression touched the woman's features before a dark eyebrow rose, "Dumbledore didn't say that."

_Of course he didn't. _Though Remus, and the other Marauders had had an easy and close relationship with the young witch before she had all of a sudden disappeared not long after her fourteenth birthday and then reappeared on her eighteenth birthday to finish Hogwarts' training, had jokingly said that she was better suited for his House than Hufflepuff Kagome Higurashi possessed one trait that many Gryffindor did not possess and that was an unshakable sense of fairness. She was extremely loyal. She was very generous. As long as one did not invoke her temper, or threaten the lives of her friends, Kagome had once been held in the same exalted light that the younger Cedric Diggory was now for being the embodiment of Hufflepuff's views.

But that was the past and for the present, responding to Kagome's question now, Remus knew why Dumbledore hadn't said anything and could only shake his head at the old wizard's craftiness... Snape had been seeking the position but Remus literally couldn't think of anyone that could fill the Potions Master's shoes if such a swap occurred. They needed, quite literally, Severus where he was. However, there was no denying that had Kagome known Snape was after the Defense Against Dark Arts seat she _**wouldn't** _have accepted the position. But it was far too late to backtrack now, what when the position had been announced to the entire Hogwarts staff and students alike.

"He's going to hate me."

The he was Snape. Well even if she hadn't taken the Defense Against Dark Arts position there was a good chance that Snape would have hated her anyways. Over these years at best Remus had a working association with the darker haired man that bordered on outright rudeness. That Kagome had associated with him and by association the Marauders, often Sirius had draped himself near or even on top of the little Hufflepuff like a living blanket for his friend had wanted her attention for himself even as kids, meant that she would be categorized as a Marauder and so naturally she would have faced the man's discomforting personality to begin with.

"You know he probably would have anyways, Gome." Remus's voice was lightened with amusement.

A considering look crossed the woman's features. He had seen that cool calculation that crept through her gaze before and yet again found himself wondering what had happened between her fifteenth and eighteenth birthdays to birth such a change in personality. And there was a change. Small as it was there were times like now that reminded Remus of the fact that Kagome wasn't the easy to love Hufflepuff he remembered when they had been brats. After all there was something... about her that had caused her to actively follow a career as an Auror in Japan, these Vigilum as she had called herself. Hufflepuffs **_weren't_** Aurors, they were too forgiving to be.

A shift of weight and the look was gone as Kagome Higurashi raised her hand to muffle a yawn. "Oh geez, Remus, I'm exhausted."

It may have been a faked yawn but the blue eyes that stared back at him when bleary with true exhaustion. Glad for an excuse to not talk about Snape and the potential clash the new Professor would have with the other man, Remus stood. "Come on, I'll walk you to your room then."


	5. Chapter 5

_thoughts_

_*****mental conversations*****_

**_amplified thoughts/meanings_**

* * *

Sighing softly, azure eyes flickering for a moment as she pushed the bathroom door close, Kagome Higurashi brushed the heavy towel through thick tangles of hair. A simple spell would just as readily rid her hair, a distinctive raven blue-black coloration that caught the light of the fireplace and shimmered with a metallic bluish undertone, of the wetness from her shower however there was something... endearing... about doing it the Muggle way. Maybe it was the fact that she had poised as a Muggle on many occasion while doing her job. Or maybe it was the simple fact that she didn't feel like using magic.

Whoever would have known that her miko abilities weren't what they had seemed. She had _**not**_ been gifted with these abilities by some whimsical god. Rather she had been born with them.

It had taken her some time to understand, for her mother had not been of any great help herself seeing as how Kun-Loon Higurashi happened to be a Squib, a non magical being, as it were, however through reading Kagome had come to understand just _**what**_ her miko abilities were when she had finally returned from the depths of Feudal Japan on the eve of her eighteenth birthday. As it was, the Higurashi family was a long line of priestesses and monks that happened to be directly descended from an even more ancient line of Onmyōdō. Spiritualists, diviners, whatever you wanted to call them for centuries the Higurashi line had been involved with Kotodama magic.

Kotodama, its name in a way essentially meaning "word spirit", was an old method of magic. It was very much akin to the magic that the druids... they were believed to be extinct now... of the United Kingdom and Europe had once employed and which was apparently available in every young witch and wizard during their youth in what was widely dubbed underage magic. The basics of kotodama were just that, basic. It was said to infuse part of the human soul, animating words, and that those words depending on if they happened to be beautiful words or ugly words could either be used for good or evil accordingly. Wandless magic essentially.

_And I am very good at it. _That was something Remus had commented on when she had joined the man for tea and biscuits in the kitchen. A gesture had levitated the kettle and the cups from the sink and brought the biscuits out of wherever the elves hide them.

But all of that knowledge, that instinctual knowledge, had been stolen from her when the demon witch, Ursula, had used a part of her soul... and with it memories... to revive her ancestor in the miko, Kikyo. Oh didn't that suck. To know that not only was she not the other's incarnation but rather Kikyo's descendent and that Kikyo herself was a descendant of Midoriko who herself was either a descendant or close relative to some Onmyōdō. Maybe even Abe no Seimei himself that would certainly explain why after nearly three generations of utterly magic-less members being born to the Higurashi family Kagome had come along. Or had her latent potential been awoken by her father's blood... after all it was a secret she promised to take to her grave when her mother had revealed it but Souta's father _**wasn't**_ hers.

That was the reason why she hadn't attended Mahoutokoro, which could be considered the Japanese version of Hogwarts, was the simple fact that she wasn't a pure blooded Asian woman. Her azure tinted gaze, bright blue eyes underneath ebony tresses and thin eyebrows, was indication enough of that. However as her father was European, from England himself, even her long lasting heritage from the Higurashi household had been slightly warped by the presence of another influence. By all rights she should have been a Squib like her mother, her magical abilities wilted as they clashed against one another, but that hadn't been the case and it had been her father's family members who had requested that she begin training at Hogwarts not long before her 11th birthday.

As her hand dropped, fingers brushed against the chain that held the marble sized gemstone and with a huff of annoyance Kagome pulled at the corded strip of gold and silver metal. Nimble fingers weaved their way through the spidery chain of silvered metal, azure eyes focused upon the marble-sized lavender hued gemstone that hung at the very end of the necklace, Kagome was forced to wonder just how such a insignificant thing like this could be the cause of so much suffering. The Shikon no Tama - Jewel of the Four Winds. From its cage of amber... many believed that to be the fifth element... that was shaped like a dragon's hand in how the three toes closed their claw-like length around it, the gemstone was a pale rose pink. There was no movement across its surface for the gem was finally made dormant. It was her responsibility and would be for the rest of her life... however long that might be.

But then things had **_changed_**. When the demon witch, Ursula, had used part of her soul to revive Kikyo whom was not her incarnation but rather some long distant relation probably through Kaede for young women were allowed their own families before they became full fledged mikos, the knowledge that Kagome had possessed of Hogwarts had been stolen from her. Her magic had not entirely been stolen from it. It was after all part of her genes, as much part of her as her blue eyes and black hair, however she had descended to a basic sort of knowledge to magic that acted more on instinct rather than anything akin to pristine training or even practice.

It had only been when Kikyo had died, when Kagome had been 17, that her memories had begun to return to her. Until then, between her 15th birthday and her 17th birthday, had anyone told her she knew a boy named Remus Lupin for example she would have asked who they were talking about. Had anyone told her she knew how to use magic through a _**wand** _she would have thought them insane. But by the time of the final battle against the dark hanyou, Naraku, and she had assisted Sesshomaru in burying the others... Miroku and Sango had died side by side, Inuyasha struck down by his half brother when the hanyou had attacked her for the repaired Shikon... her memories had been entirely returned to her. That was why, after a half year or more to recover, she had returned to Hogwarts to finish her training.

And it was the time spent in feudal Japan, a time she never intended to speak of again for it birthed memories that she wanted to remain buried, as to why been a normal woman was beyond her. She had learnt the thrill of the chase. Sitting, pretending to be normal, was something that would have driven her absolutely insane. Had it been that Moody himself knew that sort of mannerism, that "fight the good fight" attitude, and appreciated it... Kagome wasn't sure but she owed the old wizard much for starting her on the path of becoming an Auror.

Lips curving as her hand dropped from the ever present reminder of the fact that no she had not had some horrible dream and indeed she had ventured through the depths of feudal Japan for three entire years... from her fifteenth birthday to her eighteenth birthday... Kagome tightened the towel more around her frame. Her room was secured. She had even added her own personal seal to the seals that Hogwarts automatically provided for their teachers. She wanted nothing more than a good night's spell in preparing for the next morning. Dumbledore had indicated when she had first approached the old wizard that she was going to start teaching soon.

_And for a Hufflepuff, you lie like a Slytherin. _As the thought pushed through her head Kagome Higurashi could feel her lips quirk slightly.

She had avoided Remus's questions with causal ease that came from having known the Scottish blooded man for so long. It had been easy enough to speak of her profession, her career, for though they were closely akin to the Aurors of the United Kingdom there was just enough unknowns about the Vigilum that Remus hadn't really questioned here. But the thing was was that like Aurors her profession, her role, was something that one could not simply up and suddenly decide to leave. Literally the only way one quit being a police authority in the wizarding world was through death... probably one of the few similarities between them and the Dark Wizards loyal to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

As it was during her career Kagome rarely came to the UK because of the simple fact that Aurors usually handled this side of the world but the wizard, dead by a technique she knew all too well for she used it herself, had started his illegal activities in Japan long before coming to Scotland. She hadn't murdered that wizard. She hadn't even known what he had looked like until the British Aurors had questioned her. They hadn't held her, they _**couldn't**_... not with whom she was related to. But she wasn't that foolish. The moment that she had been released, under the promise to return for questioning as needed and not to flee for then she would be in deep shit, Kagome had approached Dumbledore. She wasn't entirely sure if the old wizard truly believed her but he had extended his protection under the disguise of giving her a position in Hogwarts.

After all did she not fight for the greater good?

Lips twisted slightly as Dumbledore's old phrase came trickling through her mind. The oldest scar that marred her skin was on the right side where years ago Miss Centipede had buried her fangs into Kagome's torso seeking to rip the Shikon no Tama from her flesh. The second oldest was one that ran across her right shoulder and brushed against her spine, inches from rending her crippled, when a Dark Wizard had hexed her. Another some a time not long after that adorned her left hipbone. Both of these first scars, earned for the greater good, had come during the First Wizarding War as a member of the Order.

But despite the tarnish to her name, a secret that she knew Dumbledore would keep until that became a threat, Kagome wasn't a danger to the other teachers, the students, Kagome merely needed a place to lay low and figure out who had framed her. How could she have been so **_stupid _**as to forget her old mentor's comments of constant vigilance for there could be enemies anywhere and everywhere. Kagome herself hadn't quite reached the paranoia of the older Auror but then when an Auror's working span was a decade at most and Moody had been doing it for nearly three times that amount he had every right to be paranoid.

Shaking her head to clear her mind of the thoughts Kagome threw the blanket onto the neighboring chair. For a moment she considered the bed, exhaustion making itself known but she dismissed it. Naked as the day she had been born, undisturbed of the scars littering her frame for even with them she was an eye catching witch with her contrasting complexion of European and Asian features, Kagome settled herself overtop of the blanket and at her desk itself. She needed to write a letter**.**

* * *

_**NOTES:**_

**Kotodama** - **_think of it twisted for HP as a sort of Asian version of magic - _**(言霊?, lit. "word spirit/soul") refers to the Japanese belief that mystical powers dwell in words and names. English translations include "soul of language", "spirit of language", "power of language", "power word", "magic word", and "sacred sound". The notion of kotodama presupposes that sounds can magically affect objects, and that ritual word usages can influence our environment, body, mind, and soul.

**Onmyōdō** - I hope I don't have to explain them. If not known, google. Wiki has a good enough definition.

**-.-**

**NOTE II:**

Kagome has been framed for murder. She was chasing a wizard who was more active in Japan but found dead in the UK through a technique she is familiar with because she uses it. She was taken in for questioning by UK Aurors but not yet, no necessary proof for arrest just yet... she is a Japanese / Asian Auror so she would have a bit more credit to her name than a common witch. That and she gives indication of been related to someone of importance.

Dumbledore is "protecting" her by offering her the DADA position right now.


	6. PAIRINGS REQUEST

_FIRST - I won't be telling you who Kagome's father is until later. If I did now, it'd ruin the story. But it **isn't** who you think._

_-.-_

**_Pairing Requests_**

**_Severus Snape - Potions Master, spy, Death Eater - 35 years old_**

**_Remus Lupin - DADA professor, werewolf, Order member - 35 years old_**

**_Sirius Black - framed "murderer", escaped convict - 36 years old_**

**_Lucius Malfoy - Pureblood aristocrat, Death Eater, married - 41 / 42 years old_**

**_OTHER?_**

**_I do NOT do canon pairings so NO Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, Koga, Naraku, etc. _**

**_-.-_**

_**Kagome Higurashi - 35 years old - **witch [miko abilities were magic, said last chapter], Order member, member of Japanese version of Aurors, apparently framed for murdering someone. Took over DADA position as Dumbledore's way of protecting her from arrest and Azkaban_


	7. Chapter 7

**_Stories to look out for: _**_Shadowed Light - HP X INUYASHA. This one is UNLIKE all others. _

_thoughts_

_*****mental conversations*****_

**_amplified thoughts/meanings_**

* * *

_I want to go home now. _As childish as the thought was, Kagome Higurashi couldn't quite keep from fidgeting in her seat like a nervous First Year. Maybe it was the fact that she was no longer suffering from jetleg. Maybe it was the fact that she wasn't running on automatic anymore, merely nodding and smiling when it was expected of her. Or maybe it was the simple fact that it was morning and... "Can I help you?"

Her question, directed to the tall figure on her right and whom had been staring, no glaring, at her since she had sat herself down at the only seat between him and Minerva McGonagall at the Head Table while professors waiting for the morning meal to start was returned with a sneer. Yes it had been her intention of sitting here. She was going to skin Remus Lupin alive for sitting himself in the only other vacant seat by Hagrid and close to the Gryffindor table, forget the fact that she had known the sandy haired man since they had been toddlers playing in the sandbox if she was to believe her mother's claims.

However, it was not the dark haired and darker eyed wizard that answered but rather the Scottish tang on the Head of Gryffindor house. "Don't mind Severus, Kagome, he can be quite prickly in the mornings."

Oh? She remembered a 1st year student with more ability for curses than 7th years, the word prickly didn't even begin to cut it. Dangerous seemed more suiting. He hadn't done anything, despite the fact that less than twenty four hours ago Kagome had learnt she had essentially stolen the DADA seat right out from underneath that great nose of his, yet and yet only a fool would ever completely relax. The three years that she had spent struggling through the depths of feudal Japan to complete the Shikon no Tama in trails and against foes that would have made grown men wet themselves and then a brief skint as a curse breaker followed by eight years of working as a Vigilum, the Japanese equivalent of Aurors in the United Kingdom, had long since taught her to go with her gut instinct.

And her gut instinct was telling her to be on her guard around the tall Potions Master. Her mentor had pounded it into her head - constant vigilance - and though she hadn't paid the old Auror a visit in a long time it was something that Kagome hadn't entirely forgotten. It had saved her life a few times when she had been nothing more than a snot nosed little brat within the depths of feudal Japan though more often than not her own splintered abilities meant that even her most constant vigilance was wasted. After all how did one work with half a soul? She had not splintered her soul willingly as it was and that fragmented piece had rendered her both weak and amnesic of the time she had spent from her 11th birthday to 14th birthday in Scotland. She hadn't even known she could work magic, believing that her abilities were god given, until Kikyo's death on her 17th birthday.

As it was Kagome's gut was telling her that Severus Snape was not someone to trifle with. It mattered not that she was having a bit of a hard time replacing the gangly teenager that had looked something like a stork with his limbs too long for his body to the wizard sitting on her right. Gone was the awkwardness of youth replaced with confidence that bespoke of power. She had heard mummers on the rare occasion when she visited Scotland to say hello to Remus and share some tea, maybe play a quick game of wizard's chess with the old man, that the dark eyed wizard had embraced more than a passing fancy to the Dark Arts. And he definitely had arrogance in spades.

"Thank you Minerva," the comment tore though Kagome's wandering thoughts or maybe it was the vicious sneer. "But I believe I have every right to **_evaluate_** Miss. Higurashi as I please."

The comment caused her own lips to part. Arrogant. However, it was the older witch that intervened. "Severus, really now, is such behavior really necessary? You are both colleagues."

Yes. What happened to the nervous teen whom had flushed the color of a ripe tomato when Kagome, then 11 summers old, had been introduced to the dark haired Slytherin by her grandfather. The then 12 year old had barely been capable of stuttering out his name. There wasn't much hint to the gangly teenager except for the fact that he was still an overly tall lanky man.

However, and Kagome supposed that it wasn't a surprise given what Remus had told her earlier about Severus craving the DADA spot she had taken, it seemed that the Transfiguration Professor's comments were the wrong thing to say at this point in time. Maybe at any point in time. Gods only knew what through the man's head he had the sort of bland expression that poker players would die to master. With a grunt, a sound that even somehow conveyed the man's contempt or maybe that was the curling of the upper lip, the darkly garbed and dark haired Potions Master pushed his seat back and stood. A pair of midnight black eyes starred out from beneath bangs that had fallen forwards at the suddenness of his movement instead of remaining tucked against the curve of the ears like moments ago. "If my colleagues don't mind, I have papers to grade before class."

The silence remained for a while before with a short huff the Scottish born witch drew her eyes from where the Potions Master had been standing to Kagome herself. "Tell me Kagome, what brought you back to our lovely corner of the world?"

_Outside of the fact that I've been framed for murder?... I love your endless rain._

In truth there were some things that Kagome loved about Hogwarts and one reason why she returned, if for no other reason than to speak to her old friends in Remus Lupin or her old teachers, every handful of years. The Forbidden Forest reminded her much of the depths of feudal Japan. And she was one of the few individuals who could venture into its depths without finding herself harassed by the other creatures that inhabited its murky depths. After all had it not been the centaurs, the "beast" men, whom had encouraged Kagome after she had graduated from her magical training on her 20th birthday, forced to graduated later due to those three years in feudal Japan.

Her lips parted as she turned to respond to the other witch, shoving thoughts of Severus Snape from her mind. Hopefully, every time she ran into the black eyed wizard... and as staff that was bound to happen... he wouldn't be so sourly tempered.


End file.
